The new Missouri license plates contain a grammatical error. Who cares? Well, some of us, but not the officials in charge.
The problem?
The plate, featuring a bluebird perched on a hawthorn branch, was the landslide winner of an Internet vote last year among three plate designs. During the competition, the words “Show Me State” ran vertically along the right side of the plate. Vertically, there was no graceful spot for the hyphen.
Later, the state found that the vertical placement caused production problems, so the slogan was moved to a horizontal position near the top of the plate.
Because the words “show” and “me” form a compound modifier for the word “state,” they should be joined by a hyphen.
Official response:
David Griffith, spokesman at the Missouri Department of Revenue, said the state doesn’t consider the lack of punctuation a fatal flaw and won’t be replacing the plates. “We’re too far down the line,” he said.
Makes me glad my children won’t participate in an educational system run by a government where mistakes too far down the line won’t be corrected.
On the other hand, it would be a waste of money to replace all of the plates. Or even to hire people to magic marker the hyphens onto the plates. So think of it as saving taxpayers’ money :)
Those tax dollars are no longer any of your concern, ainna?
Besides, it’s a sad testament to the functional literacy of our elected or appointed or nonpolitical hired betters and the lack of quality imperative that they demonstrate.